The Yangtze River

 

The sheer magnitude of the Yangtze River can be summed up by some truly impressive stats. For instance, not only is the river the third largest in the entire world, it is also the largest in Asia, and at its highest point is over 16,000 feet above sea level, firmly placed in the mountainous regions of the Kunlun mountains in South-Western Qinghai . This massive behemoth gushes south through Sichuan into Yuanan, turning North -East and east across central China through Sichuan, Hubei, Auhui, and Juangsu provinces until it finally forms it's mouth 3,720 miles from it's tail, in the East China Sea north of Shanghai. Over 700 tributaries are stationed along the banks of the river, the main ones being Hun, Yalong, Jialing, Min, Tuo Jiang, and Wu Jiang. Weather wise, due to the vast length of the river, climate, precipitation and temperature vary wildly from area to area. Indeed, temperatures have been known to climb as high as 96 ° c in the summer in some lower lying, high in vegetation areas, while other areas teeter near freezing in the winter. Precipitation and rainfall is high throughout, due to the elevated mountainous location of the river.

Of Chinas 1 billion plus inhabitants, approximately 350 million people live within the Yangtze region, which is also home to a variety of wild species including Tibetan antelopes, Mongolian gazelles, and snow leopards, some of which are extremely rare and conserved.

Regarding the use of the actual water itself, the Yangtze's natural resource is traditionally used by the locals and larger companies for rice and wheat irrigation. However, the present and future use of the river is to use its raw flowing power to generate electricity via enormous and inexhaustible hydroelectric resources.

Cities & Gorges along the riverside:

Fengdu

About 170 kilometres downstream of Chongqing, on the northern bank of the Yangtze, you will encounter the mysterious “Ghost City”, as it is dubbed by the locals.

It acquired this name thanks to the settlement of 2 imperial officials, Wang Fangping and Yin Changsheng, in the nearby Mount Minshan region. When put together, the surnames “Yin” and “Wang” very much sound like the Chinese for “King of Hell”, from which the locals derived the name “the Ghost City”, as they believe that such coincidence indicated the presence of spirits in the area. Hence Fengdu became known as “Ghost City”.

To the Chinese, structure of life on Earth mirrors that of Hell; as on Earth you go through a bureaucratic system to reach your final judgement, so to do you in hell. As such, the temple of Mount Minshan houses many intriguing and macabre instruments of torture and images of demons, and the surrounding hill has a multitude of gruesomely named landmarks around it, including Ghost Torturing Pass, Last-Glance at Home Tower and the River of Blood.

Wuhan

At the heart of the river approximately at its halfway point between Chongqing and Shanghai is the industrial city of Wuhan, which appropriately is one of China's major industrial cities, primarily due to it's centralised location and obvious transport links. Additionally, its industrial significance is solidified by the cities Beijing to Guangzhou railway, which confirms the capital of the Hubei Province as the major transportation and business hub along the Yangtze River.

More romantic interests are catered for along the East Lake, which offers numerous charming landmarks along its stretch, including ancient pagodas, temples and a memorial to Qu Yuan, an immortalised ancient poet and patriot.

Religious symbolism is rife at the Guiyuan Temple, dating back to the glorious days of the Ming Dynasty, which houses a 105 ton white stone Buddha and 500 arhat statues, all individually engraved with distinctive postures, expressions and character.

Qutang Gorge

Qutang Gorge is known for it's magnificence, and in it's relatively small capacity, manages to include a multitude of tourist hotspots, including the magnificent Meng Liang Staircase, the Ancient Plank Road, the Seven Gate Cave, the Kui Gate, the Bellows Gorge, and the Rhinoceros Watching the Moon.

Wu Gorge

At 44 kilometres long, the Wu Gorge is well known for its deep valley and quiet beauty. In particular, the Twelve Peaks lining the banks of Wu Gorge are particularly admired by worldwide travellers for their natural enchantment and scale. Local legend professes that if you look carefully, a silhouette of a goddess reveals itself at the top of Goddess Peak.

Xiling Gorge

Like Wu Gorge, Xiling Gorge packs in a lot of scenery and notable landmarks in its robust 66 kilometres length, comprising of such stops as Military Manual and Precious Sword Gorge, Ox's Liver and Horse's Lung Gorge, Shadow-play Gorge and Kongling Shoal. Take special note to look out for the cultural relic hotspots in the gorge, namely "Huangling Temple" and the "Three Travellers Cave", which bristle in local historical artefacts, tracing tribal pasts and customs.

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